The Mira-Bhayandar Vasai-Virar Police Commissionerate’s Crime Branch Unit has busted an international human trafficking racket that trafficked Indian citizens under the guise of lucrative overseas job offers.

The operation led to the rescue of a woman and the arrest of one of the key agents, while efforts are underway to trace other accused individuals involved in the transnational crime network.

According to police, the victim, an Indian woman, was lured by the accused, Imran alias Irshad Husain and Ammar Lakdawala, with the promise of a job in Dubai. In August, she was taken from India to Dubai, where Imran and his associate, Asif Khan alias Nepali, allegedly forced her into prostitution. Later, she was trafficked to Oman, where she was subjected to brutal physical and mental torture.

The traffickers allegedly seized her passport and confined her. When she resisted, she was beaten and threatened. Her family in India was extorted for USD 7,000 (approximately Rs 6 lakh) for her release.

The woman managed to escape and reached out to Indian authorities, following which a case was registered at the Naya Nagar Police Station under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.

During the investigation, it was revealed that the racket was linked to cyber-slavery operations in Myanmar and Thailand.

Confidential informants disclosed that accused Asif Khan alias Nepali, a resident of Haidari Chowk in Naya Nagar, Mira Road, in connivance with Adnan Sheikh based in Myanmar, recruited local youth through fake job offers posted on Facebook, falsely claiming employment opportunities with “Facebook Company, Thailand.”

The victims were then trafficked illegally to Myanmar, where they were coerced into working for a Chinese-run cyber fraud syndicate known as UU8, led by individuals identified as Leo (a Chinese national) and Steve Anna (an Indian national).

Inside the Myanmar facility, victims were forced to open fake social media accounts, posing as Indian women to befriend Indian men abroad, gain their trust, and convince them to invest in cryptocurrency and Bitcoin. Those who refused were physically tortured and confined within the compound.

The traffickers extorted USD 7,000 (approximately Rs 6 lakh) from each victim’s family in India, using five Indian bank accounts to collect the ransom, said an officer from the Crime Branch.

During the course of the investigation, police arrested Asif Khan alias Nepali from Mira Road, and Rohit Kumar Mandal, a resident of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, from Surat, for accepting ransom money from victims.

Police confirmed that efforts are ongoing to trace the remaining traffickers and agents operating abroad.

Source